"Oh nice," I said. The way he looked at me burned through me. I tried to keep my focus out the windshield. It drove me crazy.
"Charlotte..."voice made my blood pressure soar and I gripped the seat, refusing to look. Could he hear the frantic rhythm in my chest? Did he know how my body responded to him? I caught his reflection in the window, his lips had parted, his eyes wolf.knew. Of course he did. He had the senses of an animal. Embarrassment flushed over me. He recognized how I felt all along, even from the first night in the woods. Every jump in my pulse, every time my breath caught, or my temperature rose, he sensed it. No wonder he was so smug. I couldn't hide anything from him.
"Hey." His fingers brushed across my jaw line and tilted my chin up. Golden hues swallowed me. "Let's go eat." Dropping his touch with a wink, he grabbed the Chinese food, and slipped outside.entire body crumbled against the black leather seat. Slowly I let the air enter and exit my lungs. I needed to stay together.Liam had the food laid out on the grass, he waved me over.
"I hope you're hungry. I got a little of everything," he said. Reaching his arm out, he pulled me down into his lap. My temperature climbed. I couldn't help but melt into his chest, hard with lean muscle. He felt warm and safe.fingers caressed the back of my hair and he sighed. "Liam?" I asked.
"Mm," he said. I felt his cheek on my head and then his fingers fell as his nose replaced them, brushing up through my hair. "Charlotte," he said with low groan.shivered, knowing the animal part of him. I could feel it, so close to the surface, and despite all logic, I found it exciting.wanted the wolf.back arched against him, and my fingers tangled in his messy strands. Lips brushed across my jaw line, and I reciprocated, tasting his salty skin.
"Charlotte," he said, again. Taking my cheeks in his hand, he crushed his lips to mine.exploded up my backbone and down every limb of my body. I had never felt so alive. Everything started to tingle and then something inside me began to scratch and claw to surface. It scared me, yet I couldn't stop the sensation of this 'otherness' climbing the walls of my skin. The tips of my fingers itched and burned, and I grabbed onto Liam's back, digging them into his shirt.chest rumbled against mine and he pushed my lips apart. I felt a dropping sensation as something inside me began to pull away, allowing a part of me, hidden and subconscious, to emerge. Everything burned. I felt dizzy, and then a flush of light pressed through my line of vision.forest and picnic tables sprang to life. Each knot and vein of the trees stood out, defined, and vivid to the last detail. With almost microscopic precision I could discern the innate textures of a hummingbird as it flew overhead.with this new awareness, I glanced down at Liam's shoulder as he continued to kiss my jaw. Quivering movements wrestled under his skin and then his ears shifted, rising further up his hairline. Adrenaline pulsing, I wanted more.gasped for air, meeting Liam's gaze, and then his body froze.from our first kiss hit me. He dropped his arms from my body and moved back. The hint of tears began to sting. I wouldn't cry.
"What?" I asked. What did I do? "Liam?"
"Your eyes," he whispered.
"What about them?" I rubbed them hard, blinking, in hopes any signs of my upset wouldn't show.
"Don't," Liam said. Taking my wrists in his hands, he pulled them down from my face. He cocked his head to the side, staring. It made me nervous.
"Liam," I said. "Please stop looking at me like that."
"It's true," he whispered.
"What's true?"
"I mean, I knew it was true, but to see it." He shook his head with a smile. "I don't know how you did it, Charlotte. You're incredible."
"How I did what?" I realized I grabbed a wad of grass in my hand and I let it go. "You're not making any sense."
"Shh," he whispered, placing two fingers on my lips. My body relaxed, even the sharpened vision went normal. "It's nothing," Liam said with a smile. He dropped his hand, and replaced it with a kiss.14
"Did you get the album?" I asked.had just gotten home from school when Ty showed up at my door. In her enthusiasm, she almost knocked me down, pushing her way inside.
"Upstairs," she said, pointing.face, dark and serious, made me wonder exactly what she had seen in the photos. I had a bad feeling.
"What is it?" I asked.by her extended finger, I resolved to head to my room. It couldn't be that terrible. Ty did have a tendency to over react.I reached for my door handle, I stopped short. The back of my neck crawled with tiny fingers of goose bumps, and I smelt pine. Not in the familiar way, but as something else.
"Charlotte, what's wrong?" Ty went to move ahead of me, and I put my hand out, blocking her.
"Wait," I said, leaning my ear against the white paneling.
"What are you doing? What's going on?"
"Shh." I said, but I couldn't hear anything on the other side. The crawling feeling still teased the surface of my skin, but I pushed the door open.gasp I heard came from Ty first. The covers had been ripped off my mattress and the dresser drawers had been pulled loose. Clothes and personal items covered the floor. My closet door hung half off its hinge. Boxes, old games, and books, spewed, half toppled from the shelves.
"Charlotte," Ty said, pointing.gaze followed to an open window. A fresh streak of claw marks ran about a good half inch deep across the windowsill. I trembled.
"My room," I said, barely able to breathe. Everything began to spin.'s hand gently fell on my shoulder, but I flinched, and she withdrew. "You don't think Liam did this?" she asked.
"No," I said, my response immediate. "He didn't do this."
"What if he figured out that we were in his house and came looking for the album? It makes sense."
"He didn't do this," I said, my voice cracking. Tears threatened me. "Liam would never do something like this."moved past her, grabbing a wad of tussled clothes, and slammed them into an open drawer. I went for another wad and then kicked it shut. Ty stared at me like she had something to say. "What?"
"Nothing."
"Good."actions embarrassed me and I turned away, one hand on the dresser. My lip trembled. I forced my breathing to slow. "Why would somebody do this?"
"I don't know, Charlotte, but look at the window. It was a werewolf. It had to be. How many werewolves do we know?"
"I know. Trust me, I know," I said. I slunk down to the floor and held my knees. "All I know is it wasn't Liam. Even if he knew we took the album, he wouldn't do this. He'd talk to me. I just know it."'s didn't seem convinced and a bite of anger flushed through me. It hurt. Glancing at the windowsill, the image of Liam's claws extending at the gunman penetrated my mind. No. I shook it away. "It had to have been that guy we ran into. He must have followed us here, yesterday, when we left.", for some reason, she appeared stung. "Did you speak with Liam after he went home that night?" Ty asked.
"What are you saying? That he came here today just because I wasn't keeping tabs on him? I'm sorry, I'm not like that."
"Did you?" she asked.gut twisted. "No. I haven't talked to him since our date."shrugged and fiddled with the remaining edge of the comforter hanging from my bed. "It's just a little strange is all," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"It's just, don't you think he might have called or mentioned something about you breaking into his house? We left the front door open."
"Maybe he didn't know it was us," I said, as I shoved more clothes into another drawer. "Anyone could have waltzed in there."
"He's a werewolf. He would have been able to smell you. Besides, who breaks into someone's house and steals only a photo album of wolf attack? I think he knows."slammed the dresser shut. "What are you doing, Ty?" I asked. "Seriously, you're supposed to be my friend." Blinking, I glanced away.
"I'm sorry," she said. "It's just...never mind."
"No, it's just what?" I asked, turning back.dropped the comforter and kneaded her hands. "Look," she said. "You're in love with him." I opened my mouth to protest, but she held up her hand. "I'm just worried that your feelings may be slightly blinding you to some things. That's all. I mean, how well can you possibly know Liam? You just found out he was a werewolf the other day. A werewolf! He's older than my grandfather, Charlotte. Who knows who he really is? That's all I'm saying. I just think you should be careful."verbal darts that passed through my chest left me internally bruised. How could she say that? Did she care about my feelings at all? She knew how I felt about him. A slight part of me acknowledged that she worried because she did care, but I didn't want to hear it.
"How can you say that?" I asked.
"Charlotte..."
"Liam didn't do this," I yelled. "It was that other guy. He's a werewolf too. He has to be. You saw the way he was looking at me."looked down at her hands, her body stiff and still. "Maybe you're right," she said, her tone unconvincing.
"You don't know him like I do."sighed and grabbed the old photo album, setting it on her lap. "No, I don't," she said. Her index finger did a small circle over the hem of the cover. "But you don't know what I know either."
"What do you mean?" I asked. The way she said that made me cold.opened the thick cover and began leafing through the brittle pages. Stopping at one, she shifted the book around so I could see. "Come look," she said.hesitated. "What? Am I a werewolf now?" I asked, my throat tight.shook her head. "This isn't about that. This is something else I found."
"What is it?" I wanted her to just tell me so I didn't have to peek.
"Please," she said, sliding the album closer. "Just take it."from my position by the dresser, I got up, and sat down next to her. With a deep breath, I let my focus fall to the page. Surprised, no picture had been attached. An old discolored document had been inserted into the plastic sleeve, the seal on the top labeling it a death certificate.
"I'm confused," I said.
"Read it."words before me cut off my gravitational axis. "I don't understand," I said. Dropping the book, I clutched the mattress. "This is a joke, right? Please tell me you're joking."
"I don't think you know Liam as well as you think," Ty said. "In fact, I don't think that's even his real name, considering he's alive."needed air.
"No, no. Liam did not die back in 1912. He wasn't attacked, he was born a wolf. He told me. This has to be a mistake."
"I know that's what he told you," Ty said. "Charlotte, it isn't true."escaped and I furiously shook my head. "He wouldn't lie to me."took the album, sitting it back on her lap. "I'm sorry, Charlotte." She flipped the page over to reveal an old black and white police shot dated August 28, 1912. A photo of a seventeen-year old boy, with a striking likeness to Liam, stared back at me. A toe tag had been fastened to his bare boot, most of his neck and shoulder shredded and torn. No hoax could pull that off. The person was dead.
"I think I'm going to be sick," I said.reached out, to grab on to me, but I sank down off the edge of the bed to the floor. "Why would he pretend to be someone else?"
"I don't know."slipped down beside me and gave me a hug. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what's going on in his head. I wish I did."felt hollow, empty. Everything I thought I knew about Liam had been obliterated. If the person on that slab, bearing his name and resemblance hadn't been him, why did he steal the guy's identity? Why keep all the photos and documents on this at all? His reaction to seeing me glance at the book struck me cold.
"What if Liam killed him?" I said.
"Now Charlotte, we don't know that," Ty said. "I wasn't implying that. I just didn't want you so blinded. You don't know him as much as you think. That's all. You need to be careful."
"Why would he be keeping photos of a mauled victim whose identity he took? This was a werewolf attack!" I covered my face with my hands.
"Quiet," Ty whispered. "Your dad's downstairs."
"I know. Sorry."
"Trust me. I know it's very suspicious, but you're right. It could have been someone else that broke in here too."lifted my head from my hands. "What are you talking about? I thought you were adamant that it was Liam. You're confusing me."
"Well, I was just thinking. What if others realized you had the album and had become curious about you? Anyone could have followed you here."
"Ty, you're not making any sense. Who would care I knew about that death besides Liam?"chewed her lower lip and my stomach sank when she pulled the book back down in her lap. "There's another little thing to the story that I haven't told you.".thumbed through several pages until she landed on a familiar one. The picture I had seen in Liam's study filled the sheet. Taking it in fully for the first time, I saw three gnarled and torn bodies with blacked out faces. The bite marks seemed to be the focus of the image, and on each person, the location differed. The first had one on the shoulder, the second, this man's leg, and the third appeared to be a hip shot. The unnerving similarity, they all looked like mine.
"I'm not a werewolf, Ty."
"I know," she said. "But according to these, you should be."had to be some kind of cruel joke. I wanted to curl up in a ball.
"Maybe they don't understand it either, Charlotte. This might be the real reason why Liam said you were in danger if other werewolves knew about you."head hurt.
"So now you think Liam was trying to protect me?"
"I don't know. That's what scares me. We don't know what's going on here. All I know is that since we now have this album, we, or more specifically, you, could be in a lot of danger. We know things we shouldn't. Liam's identity, for example, is destroyed. I can easily see why he'd want to break in here to find the album. But like I said, it could have been anyone that had caught an interest in you considering your scar."
"It might have been that guy from the house. He could have easily followed us."
"Exactly," she said, shifting her gaze away from me. Her fingers fumbled with her charm and then she snapped the album closed. "I don't think you should trust anyone. In fact, maybe we should call the cops. I mean, look at your room."cell in my pocket felt like led. "No," I said, shaking my head. "If it wasn't Liam, I don't want any attention drawn to him. You're not even supposed to know about him. Besides, if word of anything trouble related regarding Liam gets to my dad, I'll never see him again."
"But if it was him? Charlotte, this is your life we're talking about."
"I know, I know," I said with a groan. "I can't think right now. Just, no cops, at least until I figure some things out."15felt terrible. Liam had called my house numerous times over the rest of the weekend, but I hadn't picked up. I still had feelings for him, I knew that, but fear had set in. Why would he destroy my room, even if he wanted the album? Didn't he love me? Now I didn't know if Liam wanted to confront me, kill me, or kiss me. Confusion and conflict twisted my stomach in a knot.my head back against the school lockers, I tried to slow my swirling montage of thoughts as the hall drained of students. Everything around me felt like a haze, the normal world surreal compared to what I was dealing with. I had never felt more different and alone. My heart hurt.turned to face my open locker, and placed both palms against the metal siding, leaning my head down in. I wanted to stay there forever.
"Charlotte," a deep, familiar voice said. I froze, unmoving from my position. He couldn't be here at school. Ty even said he wouldn't be back after getting kicked out that first time. I had to be hallucinating. My fingers trembled against the locker, and the back of my hairline prickled with electricity. I could feel him right behind me. "Charlotte, please," Liam said, his voice low and calm. "We need to talk."
"No, no we don't," I said.
"Charlotte, please," he said.inhaled a sharp breath as I felt the warm sensation of fingers run down my back. My mind screamed for me to run, yet every cell in my body tingled.
"I know you've seen the album, Charlotte."couldn't hear anything but my pulse as I gripped the steel frame of my locker, and then I felt his warm breath on my ear.
"Not here, Charlotte," he whispered. "Come with me."
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"You can't hide from me forever, Charlotte. We need to talk." Fingers moved from my back to the edge of my jaw, and he lifted it. Trembling, I cast my eyes down. I couldn't look at him.
"I'm not going to hurt you. You know that, right?" he asked.
"I don't know," I said, mumbling.
"Charlotte..."sounded bruised and a flicker of me felt guilty, but I didn't trust him. He had lied to everyone. "I have classes. Please let me go."dropped his hold on me, his body still looming over mine. "It's not what you think," he whispered. "Can I at least explain?"hand moved to the locker next to mine, and I froze, trying to keep my breathing normal. I did want answers. I needed them. The hallway spun and I blinked my eyes. "I can't leave school," I said.
"Not a problem." He grabbed my hand and before I could protest, began leading me down the hallway.
"Wait, where're we going?" Glancing back down the hall, I contemplated screaming, but he rounded the corner, and pulled me into a large open closet. He shut the door, and turned me around. "The janitor's closet?" I asked.shrugged. "It's private and you can return to classes after we're done."swallowed and looked around. Finding a light switch, I flicked it on. It buzzed sputtering, and then softly illuminated the tiny area. Boxes and cleaning supplies left little room to move. Liam's proximity and stature, blocking the only way out, made my anxiety soar. "I don't know about this."
"You don't know about what?" he asked, leaning against the closed door.dim lighting cast eerie shadows, accentuating his deep-set features, giving him an intense air. I struggled to focus and relax, knowing full well he could hear my pulse and smell the fear rising off me.
"I know why you haven't been returning my calls, Charlotte," Liam said, his voice low. I arched my back against the large storage box behind me, trying to manage some distance, my palms sweaty. "I know what you must be thinking. I'm sure this is all very confusing."
"Confusing?" I said with a tight voice. "Confusing, is an understatement." A surprising rush of adrenaline flushed through me. "Who are you?"could see Liam's face tighten even with the poor lightening, his eyes vacant, and hard. "I'm a wolf. I told you."
"That's not what I mean. Who are you?"
"I'm Liam."
"No you're not," I said. Liam had never looked so intimidating. His irises flooded gold as they narrowed in on me. I could barely breathe. "Did you kill him?" I asked. The threat of tears stung. "Did you kill that boy and take his name?"didn't think it possible, but he tilted his head to the side, and took a step closer to me. His human features seemed more wolf-like then ever. His hand began to reach for me, and I pressed the side of my face to the storage box.
"Charlotte," Liam said, brushing his knuckles down the side of my cheek. Tears fell. "You know I would never do such a thing. Come on. You know me."
"Obviously, I don't."dropped his hand and took a step back, casting his gaze down.
"Everything about you is a lie. How am I supposed to trust you? Why should I believe you didn't kill that guy? You're a werewolf!"flicked his gaze up, gold, and clasped his hand over my mouth. I squeaked a scream under his clasp. "Shh," he said. His nostrils flared as he inhaled, focusing on something outside the closet. Footsteps moved on the other side, and I froze. I could feel Liam's skin begin to quiver and stretch.few muffled voices spoke, and then the footsteps moved on. Both of us stood silent. Liam released me and stepped back.
"You can't tell anyone, Charlotte. Do you know what people would do? Everyone thinks I'm Liam. They'd kill me. I'm a monster, remember?"
"So you're really not Liam?"
"No."nodded and then scrunched my face up as I felt a tear slip. It hurt.
"Oh, Charlotte, please don't cry. I love you."reached out for me again, but I stumbled backwards, knocking over a storage box. "Please don't," I said.looked as if I stabbed him.
"I'd never hurt you, Charlotte. You don't know what you mean to me."wanted to believe it so much it ached. "I don't even know who you are."
"Aiden."
"What?" I asked.fell, defeated, back against the closed door. "My name," he said, rubbing his forehead. "My name is Aiden. Nobody knows that, not even my pack."
"Did you kill him?"
"No," he said.
"Then why'd you take his name? I don't understand."'s face twisted into a mass of stress lines, making him appear a lot older than his 'claimed' age. "Because I know who did do it," he said with a tight groan.did know the killer. My first assumption at the library had been right. My mind spun with 'what's' and 'why's'. I couldn't think.
"I looked the same age as the boy. We both had ashy blond hair and green eyes. The way he was torn up, I could easily pull off any facial differences as the result of healing. Forensics was different back then. If I was the only living witness, I could manipulate the case away from...."jaw dropped.
"You were protecting the killer!"
"Shh. Please, Charlotte," he whispered. He glanced over his shoulder at the door and then ran both of his hands through his hair, turning back to me. "You don't understand. It's not what you think."
"Not what I think?" I asked. "Were you or were you not protecting the killer?"winced, and then groaned. "In a way, yes, I was."couldn't believe this. "This isn't helping me trust you, Liam. Aiden. Whoever you are."
"Just call me Liam, everyone else does."wanted to scream.
"Liam," I said through my teeth, trying to stay calm. "Please tell me. Why would you protect a brutal killer? I saw the pictures of the victims. They were horrible. How could you? You...you're almost just as bad as him. You're an accomplice!" I couldn't look at him.
"Charlotte, please..."moved towards me again and when he let his fingers fall on the back of my shoulder, I felt my own skin ripple., it had to be nerves.inhaled slowly and when I dared look up at him, I saw the points of his canine teeth, slipping past his lips. His chest rumbled, and I thought I might pass out.
"I told you," he said in a low, hoarse voice. "It's not what you think. I didn't have a choice. More people would have gotten hurt. He'd have gone after the cops, their families. They would have kept hunting him, and they wouldn't have been able to stop him. This way, I was able to get the humans off the case, deal with him myself, and send him away."tried to take it all in. It made sense, but I couldn't think. That voice and the way he looked at me; I didn't know if he wanted to kiss me or eat me. A low rumble reverberated from his chest and he pressed his nose into my hair. A whimper escaped my lips. "Liam," I said. "What are you doing?"
"Mmm," he said, his voice rumbling. "I'm sorry. You just smell so good. I miss you."recoiled as much as I could, being trapped between him and the box. "Are you going to eat me?" I asked.corner of Liam's mouth turned up, his teeth longer than before. I shuttered.
"No," Liam said, shaking his head with a chuckle. "You're so cute, Charlotte. I'd never hurt you." His hand cupped my chin. "You smell like a female wolf. That's what's been throwing me since I first met you. It drives me crazy."
"What?"couldn't believe what he just said. My mind spun to all the times Liam had done his little ritual of inhaling the air around me, Byron's comment in the cafeteria too. But it couldn't be true. Despite the evidence in that album, there was no way I was a werewolf. I couldn't be.
"I think you do know what," Liam said. "You saw the album. Between us..." He leaned closer. "I know you've felt it." His fingers tangled in my hair. "The wolf is in you somewhere. I've seen pieces of her from time to time. She's beautiful."chest swelled. As crazy as it sounded, nobody had ever said anything to me like that. Why did it feel like he was talking about my soul?stepped back, shaking my head. "No, no, it's not true," I said, trying to clear my thoughts. "You're...you're just messing with me. I don't believe you. I don't trust you. I barely know who you are. You have so many secrets." My words came fast, my chest tight. "If you love me, why did you break into my room?"
"What?"
"Don't play coy with me, Liam. I know you did it. There were claw marks all over the window sill."low rumble shook from his chest. "What are you talking about, Charlotte? Tell me you're joking."grabbed my shoulders and I jumped, as he began patting me down.
"Liam, what are you doing?"gaze trailed up and down my body as if looking for something, then pressed his nose into my hair. Moving around me, he sniffed up my back and around to the front of my shirt.
"Liam, stop. You're scaring me," I said, pushing him back.stopped and placed both hands on my shoulders. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Tell me you're okay."
"I'm okay," I said. "What's going on?"sighed, dropping his hold. "Oh, thank God," he said. "Have you seen anyone following you lately? Have you run into anyone new? Talked to any strangers?"wondered if I looked as guilty as I felt.
"Charlotte?" Liam asked. His face alone gave me my answer.
"At your house, when Ty and I snuck in. There was a guy about our age. Auburn hair. I thought he was one of your pack mates. I didn't know he wasn't until after he stopped me with the album."
"Aaron," Liam said with a snarl.slammed his hands up against the wall. Several chunks of plaster toppled down around me. "Does he know you are with me? Does he know what you are?"hard, I nodded my head. "It was an accident. Ty slipped and told him we were dating. He set us up. She thought that would explain to him why we were there in the house."could see Liam's skin quiver under his t-shirt as his lip rose over his sharp canines. "Does he know what you are?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"Charlotte, this isn't funny."
"I think he believes what you believe," I said, my voice barely passing my lips. "He was sniffing me and giving me funny looks."low growl came from his chest and he began to pace the small square confines of the closet. "Get Ty and go to her house."
"But I have school."
"Just do it. Get her now and go. Don't stop for anything. Just go and stay there until I come back. I'd say to lock and barricade the door, but that won't be much help. Hopefully if you leave now, he won't suspect you'll be there since he probably thinks you're at school. In the meantime, I'll try to find him."wrapped my arms around me. I could feel myself shaking. "Is he the one who killed those people?" I asked. "Who is he?"looked at me with a hard, hollow expression. "Yes. His name is Aaron. He's my twin brother."
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